Citing their facilitation of "a wireless, fossil fuel-free society," The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Oct. 9 announced its award of the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry to three scientists for their development of lithium-ion batteries.
Professor John Goodenough of the University of Texas at Austin; Stanley Whittingham, a professor at Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York; and Akira Yoshino, a professor at Japan's Meijo University and fellow at Japanese chemical company Asahi Kasei Corp., "created a rechargeable world," the Academy said in a news release.
Their innovations enabled the ultimate commercialization of lithium-ion batteries in the early 1990s, sparking "a revolution in electronics," according to the Academy. Lithium-ion batteries are now used to power devices ranging from cellular phones, hearing aids and computer laptops to electric vehicles and massive battery arrays storing electricity generated by solar and wind energy resources.

A graph of the first commercially available lithium-ion battery, developed by Akira Yoshino. Source: Johan Jarnestad/The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
Based largely on increasing demand for electric vehicles from General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG, Tesla Inc. and other automakers, as well as rising battery orders for stationary storage, lithium-ion battery production is set to soar over the next decade.
Nearly 100 lithium-ion battery "megafactories" with a combined annual production capacity totaling more than 2,000 GWh could be online by 2028, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, citing planned and operating plants from top-tier suppliers LG Chem Ltd., Panasonic Corp., Samsung SDI Co. Ltd. and Tesla and rising producers Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. and BYD Co. Ltd. In 2018, lithium-ion battery manufacturing capacity was less than 200 GWh, according to the research firm.
As lithium-ion battery manufacturing scales up, the technology continues to suffer from some of the challenges the Nobel Prize-winning scientists experienced during their early experiments. Safety, for instance, emerged as a concern after fires erupted in laboratory batteries. Numerous battery fires and explosions linked to lithium-ion batteries used in aviation, consumer products, vehicles and energy storage projects have occurred in recent years.
Moreover, serious environmental and human rights concerns surround the mining of some lithium-ion battery metals. Cobalt, for instance, which is extracted mainly in Democratic Republic of Congo, has been called a new "blood diamond." Major electric vehicle brands, utilities and project developers using lithium-ion batteries have committed to more responsibly sourced products, free of child labor and environmental abuse, while some battery makers have developed low- to no-cobalt alternatives.
For The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the benefits and the potential of the innovations created by Goodenough, Whittingham and Yoshino far outweigh the challenges associated with the technology.
"Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionized our lives since they first entered the market in 1991," the Academy said. "They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind."
